The West Coast

The Wet
West Coast

Rainy and dreary most days, the West Coast is as wet as it is beautiful. It is characterized by arching peaks with lush rain drentched forests cascading down right to the edge of the harsh rocky coast [LEFT: Coastline]. Its crown gems, the Franz Joseph Glacier and Fox Glacier, are products of the impressive amounts of precipitation recieved by the region. The massive quantities of snow, which are scraped out of the passing clouds by the mountians, give enough momentum to the glaciers for them to flow down remarkably close to the sea.

Navigaion along the West Coast is done by following a narrow two lane highway (with frequent one lane bridges) as it winds over, around and between the numerous glacially formed obstacles. It is both a treat and a chore to drive. I would still certainly recommend it though, as all great convoulted scenic drives share the same contradictory driving traits.

I started my driving trek up the West Coast from Wanaka just North of Queenstown. I got on highway 6 heading out of town, and could have literally thrown my map out the window. There is only one road up the length of the West Coast, so navigation was straight forward... but definately not literally so. From Wanaka I traveled up and over the Haast Pass (stopping at the Blue Water Pools and the pass itself along the way), and dropped down to the coast. Then I followed the twisting road all the way up to Fox Glacier.

I got there by late afternoon and wandered up the short trail to the terminal face of the glacier in the slowly fading light under overcast skies. It was a pleasent hike and the glacial valley was impressive. But the lower section of the glacier, which was visiable from the terminal face, was ragged and dirty making it a less impressive sight than the ones on Mt Rainier. The knowledge of its unseen length, hidden beauty, and vast snowfields above still commanded respect though.

That night I just slept in my rental car to save some money. In the morning, after waiting out some early showers, I visited Franz Joseph Glacier and hiked up to its terminal Face. The glacier had a wider terminal face and was cleaner than Fox Glacier, but was perdominately very similar to its neighbor [RIGHT: The terminal face of Franz Joseph Glacier]. From the glaciers I pushed on up the West Coast flowing the perpetually snaking road all the way up to Greymouth where I stopped for the night. It was the biggest town on the West Coast, but absolutely dead by 10:00pm.

In the morning I headed out agian after indulgently sleeping in. I picked up a couple of German hitchhikers outside town, Andreas and Lena. Together we drove up the coast to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. The rocks were right on the coast and jutted out into the surf. Somehow the sandstone in the area had been formed into a multitude of perfectly flat 6 inch layers of solid rock with thin weaker layers inbetween each one. Thus, when worn away by the pounding surf the exposed rock distictly resembled a giant stacks of pancakes. In addition caverns and tunnels had been sculpted into the rocks by the waves over the years. Some of which culminated in small vertical vents such that when a wave rolled in a blast of sea spray would be project out the vent much like a geothermal gyser [BELOW: A blast of sea spray at Punakaiki].

From Punakaiki we contunued up the coast to Westport where I dropped the Germans off. Then I headed inland. I made a short stop along the Buller River to see and cross New Zealand longest swing bridge. I also got a decent hike in exploring the area and saw a waterfall, some old mining reminents, and the White Creek Faultline. After the stop I got back in the car and pushed on heading North to Nelson to close out my trip up the West Coast and meet back up with Mike.

As always,
-Russ

[Pictures from
THE WEST COAST]